A Year Later
by I White Raven I
Summary: Sonic and Amy lost their daughter to a fever a year ago. From Sonic's POV.


**I got the idea for this story after listening to "Lucy" by Skillet, and just wrote it fairly quickly. I was going to make it a songfic with their daughter's name being Lucy, but I thought that was sort of cliched. So I just changed it to this. Hope you enjoy!**

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Hard to believe it's been a year.

Though, it's actually hard to believe that it happened at all. It seems like just yesterday I was holding her in my arms, cuddling her and holding her close. Her mother and I loved her so much.

She had her mother's eyes. I could just look at those eyes all day, letting them remind me of the days when her mother and I were young. I have to admit, she has some patience. She finally wore me down.

After a while, Amy and I were married. A few months later, we found out Amy was pregnant.

When she was first born, Ariana was just like any normal baby. She was happy, healthy, and neither Amy nor I thought that anything bad could ever possibly happen. We both promised ourselves that we would do everything we possibly could to prevent anything bad from happening to her.

We made sure that we kept that promise, too. But, it's not like we were those kind of overprotecting, not-ever-even-letting-her-leave-her-crib parents. We took her on walks – or runs, when she was with me – around Mobius almost daily. You could tell she loved to be outside by the way she laughed and smiled the entire time.

I never even began to think that something could go so wrong. Not until Ariana was nearly ten months old did things began to take a turn for the worst.

We still don't know quite how, but she caught a terrible fever. All the usual remedies that you would use to cure a fever didn't work. Nothing we tried ever could seem to help her get over it. Everything that the doctors suggested failed, and all the medicines they gave us didn't work either.

Despite all that we tried, and after almost a month, Ariana just began to get worse. She started to become very weak, and I don't think I ever heard her laugh or saw her smile after that point.

I think that's the point when Amy began to lose hope. She didn't seem like herself at all. Even though she still tried to help Ariana, and she still held her every day, and tried all she could to comfort her.

After a month and two weeks, though, Ariana finally lost the fight with the fever. Both Amy and I were deeply upset. As much as we had tried to mentally prepare for the fact that we would lose her, we didn't expect it to be this hard.

All of our friends came to the funeral, and even Shadow showed up. It wasn't a very long funeral, or even a very large one. It was just a small service of Amy, I, and our friends at a small hill not too far away from the house where Amy and I live. Once it was over, we all went back to our house and just sat together, most of us trying to comfort Amy. Throughout the entire funeral, Amy was shaking in my arms from crying so much.

Later, after everyone left, Amy and I went to bed. It took a while, but I finally got to sleep, but just before I did, I could still hear Amy silently crying next to me. I still don't know if she even slept at all for the next week.

Although it seemed like Amy had given up on hope before I did, she still took it the hardest. She cried almost constantly, and she did so much that I don't think she even had any tears anymore. I always thought that it seemed like we were both equally upset, but even now, a year later, Amy is still not over it completely. She still cries a lot. Almost every day, I can hear her crying quietly to herself in our room. It hurts me to know that she's still taking it this hard a year later.

Today would have been her birthday. Ariana would have been two years old. If she had lived a month and a half more, she would have been a year old. Today she would have been two, and it would have been one of the greatest days of my life, and Amy's too. I would give just about anything just to see her with us right now, looking at us with the same eyes as her mother, smiling and playing around the house.

Even sitting here, by her grave, I can't even begin to imagine how great life would have been with her. When she was first born, Amy and I were so excited to have her. And now that she's gone, I hardly know what to do anymore. Life goes on, I guess, but it's still not the same without her here.

Amy's here beside me, holding on to my arm with her head rested on my shoulder. The flowers she picked, a dozen roses, are lying in front of her grave. We've been here for at least an hour, but I don't want to leave just yet. Amy doesn't seem like she wants to leave either. Both of us have cried while we've been here, but neither of us has said a word.

Here with Amy, beside Ariana's grave underneath the trees, we both don't want to leave, even though it's starting to get dark. The sun is setting in the distance, and both of us watch it, knowing we'll have to leave soon.

Amy moves over to Ariana's grave, placing one hand on it. I watch her as she closes her eyes, with tears slowly making their way down her face. I move over and put my hand on her back. She looks up at me, and I give her a small smile, wiping away her tears from her face.

Just before the sun sets, we both make our way home. We sit on the couch and watch tv together for a while, then when I notice Amy has fallen asleep, I take her upstairs and set her in bed.

Lying down beside her, I start to drift off to sleep. My mind wanders to my dreams about what life would be like with Ariana around. I know it's not possible, but sometimes I just get up and walk to her room, and still expect to see her in her crib, sleeping peacefully and silently.

One day, though, I know we'll be able to see her again, and when we do, we won't ever have to say goodbye.


End file.
